Accessing, viewing and manipulation of archived information

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided for accessing, viewing and manipulating data stored in a computer system. This is achieved by selecting one or more of the non-modifiable data objects stored in a computer system, creating references to the selected objects and adding the references to a reference list. The reference list is then manipulated to allow a user to add to, remove from or search the references in the reference list. In some embodiments, different operations are performed by different computers connected to a computer network such as the Internet. In such cases, data objects are stored on a server computer and searched by client computers connected to the server computer over the network. A reference list is stored on the client computers and can be directly manipulated by the user without a need for further interaction with the server computer.

1 . A method for accessing, viewing and manipulating data stored in a computer system, comprising: 
 selecting a plurality of non-modifiable data objects stored in a storage of the computer system;    creating references to the selected data objects;    adding the references to a first reference list; and    manipulating the first reference list;    wherein the first reference list and the data objects corresponding to the references contained in the first reference list are displayed in a single window of the computer system.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 creating a plurality of modifiable data objects;    storing the plurality of modifiable data objects on the storage device of the computer system; and    converting one or more modifiable data objects into non-modifiable data objects.    
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each of the references to the non-modifiable data objects further comprises a modifiable tag field.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each of the data objects contains a searchable comment field and a searchable tag field.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising storing the first reference list and the data objects corresponding to the references in the first reference list in a non-modifiable collection of data objects.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the non-modifiable collection of data objects is created on a first computer and the method further comprises adding a plurality of references to data objects stored in the non-modifiable collection of data objects to a second reference list stored on a second computer.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the references to the single data object are created by more than one search of the data objects.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: 
 searching the data objects according to one or more new search parameters;    in response to the search, creating one or more new references to data objects satisfying the search parameters and adding the new references to the references in the first reference list.    
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein a reference to a single data object is contained in more than one reference list.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the references in the first reference list are organized in a user-modifiable order.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein each data object comprises a unique identifier, one or more fields of meta-information and freeform content.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the meta information is used in searching the data objects and Is displayed on the window of the computer system together with the data object.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the data objects and the first reference list are stored on a first computer and a second reference list is stored on a second computer, the first computer being connected to the second computer by a computer network.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising adding references in the first reference list to the second reference list.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the network is a local area network.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the network is a wide area network.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the network is a global network.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 13 , further comprising a third computer, wherein the data objects are created on the third computer.  
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more data objects comprise text data.  
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more data objects comprise image data.  
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more data objects comprise audio data.  
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein one or more data objects comprise multimedia data.  
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the search parameters are automatically sifted by comparing a text portion of the data objects to a list of predetermined text segments to determine whether one or more of the text segments occur within a text portion of the data objects.  
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the predetermined text segments are stored and used in successive sifting operations.  
     
     
         25 . A computer system for accessing, viewing and manipulating data objects comprising: 
 a plurality of modifiable data objects stored in a storage of the computer system;    a plurality of non-modifiable data objects stored in the storage of the computer system;    a computer program; and    a computer executing the program, wherein the computer program includes instructions for: 
 selecting one or more non-modifiable data objects stored in the computer system;  
 creating references to the selected data objects;  
 adding the references to a reference list; and  
 manipulating the reference list, wherein the reference list and the data objects are displayed on a single window of the computer system.  
   
     
     
         26 . The computer system of  claim 25 , wherein the computer program further includes instructions for converting one or more modifiable data objects into non-modifiable data objects.  
     
     
         27 . A computer-readable storage medium comprising a computer program, the computer program including instruction for: 
 selecting one or more non-modifiable data objects stored in a computer system;    creating references to the selected data objects satisfying the search parameters;    adding the references to a reference list; and    manipulating the reference list, wherein the reference list and the data objects are displayed on a single window of the computer system.    
     
     
         28 . The computer-readable storage medium wherein the computer program further includes instructions for converting one or more modifiable data objects into non-modifiable data objects.  
     
     
         29 . A computer system for accessing, viewing and manipulating data objects comprising: 
 a plurality of modifiable data objects stored in a storage of the computer system;    a plurality of non-modifiable data objects stored in a storage of the computer system;    a plurality of references to the non-modifiable data objects; and    one or more lists of the references.    
     
     
         30 . The computer system of  claim 29 , wherein one or more of the modifiable data objects are converted Into non-modifiable data objects.  
     
     
         31 . The computer system of  claim 28 , wherein a timestamp corresponding to the time of the conversion from modifiable data object into non-modifiable data object is added to the non-modifiable data object.